[N8ball]

Of course wind power has it's pros and cons. The impact on local and migratory birds can be seen on the ground around the towers... in the form of their dead carcasses. Imagine flying along, on your way to your favorite winter hot spot, when out of nowhere, WHAMMO!! A 100' blade chops your little birdie head off. The birds haven't quite figured it out yet, but give 'em a couple thousand years, and the ones that like to fly by the towers will have been thinned out.

The tidal stuff is cool. There are floats that capture the up and down energy of each wave, which is neat, but not as productive as the capturing of tidal pools. After the tide goes out, the H2O is released into a specially designed canal. The canals narrow as they approach the turbines, which causes the H2O to accelerate, and more energy is therefore harnessed. They actually tried to get a form of this here in Utah. Being that there is no tide here, the idea was to pump water from Bear Lake, uphill during the evening hours when power use is lower, then release it during peak hours, to generate power. Anyone who passed high school physics might realize that this system would use more power than it harnessed, which is why it was shot down in large part by Gov. Huntsman.

We have a lot to learn about energy. Both in terms of how we harness it, and how we use it. Some thing I have been seeing in my head, is an escapement device, like clocks in the old days, where I can lift a weight, then slowly convert it's potential energy to kinetic. Connect that to a small generator, which powers some efficient LEDs, and let there be light.